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    Is there a difference between games run in OSX vs games run in windows?

    Discussion in 'Apple and Mac OS X' started by Charivari, May 1, 2010.

  1. Charivari

    Charivari Notebook Evangelist

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    Performance wise?

    I noticed that alot more games are available for mac now than there used to be so I was wondering if I play the same game in windows vs OSX will there be a difference?

    I mainly install bootcamp and win 7 for games only on my macbook pro but maybe I wont do that this time if the games run just as good in OSX.

    Thanks!
     
  2. paperbag846

    paperbag846 Notebook Consultant

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    Typically, but not in in all cases, you will see about 10 - 15% better performance in windows.

    Not sure why entirely, but I think it has something to do with the fact that windows ports to mac cannot use direct X, so less efficient solutions are implemented.

    E.g., Call of Duty 4 ran worse on my Mac in OSX than in XP, and in OSX, I had no option for dynamic shadows.
     
  3. Seshan

    Seshan Rawrrr!

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    That's because most game dev just port them using wine, so they will never run as good as in Windows.
     
  4. Xhibit

    Xhibit Notebook Evangelist

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    Yeah, most game devs spend more time optimizing a game to windows than os x.
     
  5. doh123

    doh123 Without ME its just AWESO

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    Wine is actually so rarely used, thats totally untrue....

    Cider ports are more common, and very closely related to Wine.

    There are often very cheaply made native ports not using anything like Wine that run horrible... I have quite a few games that run better through Wine than they run with the native port.